Snowy Sunday

We got about 7 inches of snow in Weston today, and everything is covered in a beautiful snowy blanket!

My car was buried under all the snow!

But I braved the snowy roads to go get dorm snacks for Katie's birthday, and decorations for our "winter wonderland" themed dorm dinner on Tuesday. Appropriate for the weather!

9 Barnies attended the Jewbilee Retreat, which is a weekend program for young Jews, friends and allies that strengthens identity, builds community, and enhances the experience of independent school culture. It sounds like they had a really worthwhile experience, and hopefully we'll have pictures (and maybe even a blog entry?!) about it soon.

Until then,
Melisa K.

A Night at theTheater

Tonight was a real treat! First, Cheyenne had the starring role in an adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh, which Emily did lights for (they were great, Emily!). Then, Hyeon Jin, Julia, and Hyun Soo played the three wives in The Golden Child. They were so funny! Finally, Juliana directed two plays for "mature audiences" that also got a lot of laughs. Apparently our audience wasn't so mature. =)

We were so proud of all of you...well done!!!

*boisterous clapping and cheering*

PS Sorry some of the videos are sideways. I left the camera at home and had to use the phone. Apparently videotaping vertically doesn't really transfer well to the blog. But, you know, if you tilt your head to the side it works pretty well.

Enjoy,
Melisa K.

Juliana Directs two Plays

Rousing Applause!

Hmmm...just turn your head so this faces the right way..

Sorry this is sideways!

Barnie Actresses!

Hyeon Jin, Hyun Soo and Julia star in The Golden Child

Cheyenne's Tiddly-pum Song

Cheyenne as Winnie-the-Pooh!

Sarah enjoys some strawberry goodness!

Yeah, she's pretty much an expert with the whipped cream. There was a perfect little point on this but my camera phone was too slow to capture it. It was amazing.

Da Hae's Birthday Strawberries....

Da Hae wanted to celebrate her birthday with strawberries and whipped cream. It took a while to track them down (they're not so great in Winter) but we got them! (thanks to Alicia and Travis' persistence!) They put whipped cream on each individual strawberry. It was strawberry birthday goodness.

Briana, Shari and Helen Help Out

Helen helped out at registration for our admissions event tonight. We invited prospective students to campus to participate in workshops in dance, science, and visual arts. Helen was super articulate and personable and outgoing and professional. But then, we already knew that!!

Briana and Shari were student teachers/dancers at the dance workshop too, and they did really well. They were really approachable and not at all intimidating and they made 8th graders feel comfortable learning new dances in hip hop, modern, and African dance. It was so much fun to watch them dance. They were SO good. I actually took a video but couldn't really post it because there were lots of prospective students in it that don't yet go to CSW.

Anyway, I know it's a little cheesy, but I was just so proud tonight watching our girls. They rock.

Our very own gingerbread house...

Jin said she thought the new icicles hanging from the Barn reminded her of the icing on a gingerbread house...and I agree! It practically makes the cold seem cozy. ;)

Happy Birthday, Julia!

We gathered to sing Happy Birthday to Julia and Da Hae at our first dorm meeting after returning from break, but we had to let each of them celebrate with their favorite snacks as well. Tonight, Julia celebrated with brownies and ice cream. Tuesday, we hope to celebrate Da Hae's birthday with strawberries. =)

Holiday Party Movie

End of Mod Art Show

Hopefully I got a picture of at least one thing from each of the Barnies that had stuff in the art show. There was a lot of Barnie art! And, some of our girls had 2-3 different bunches of art in the show. It's amazing that they could create that much good art in one mod! Enjoy!

Juliana's Photo Independent Study (of courtney)

Juliana's Sarah Portrait

Hyun Soo's art!

Jane Art

More from Jane

Hyeon Jin's Metalwork

Hyun Soo's Sculpture

Helen's Sculpture

Katie's art!

Hyun Soo's Paper Roller coaster!

Minami's Art!

Kanae's Art

Jin did a whole series of awesome dogs!

Kanae's Art (from Art and Idea Class)

Jin's 3-D art!

Jin's Art--look closely...it's two people kissing in the shadows!

Mewda's Squirrel

Alright, Mewda isn't in our dorm but how could I not share this pine cone squirrel with you! I knew you wouldn't want to miss it!

Minami's portrait

Minami's Art

Julia's Photography

Da Won's Card!

Sorry this picture is sideways! But hopefully you can still see that Da Won's beautiful artwork was chosen for the CSW holiday card this year--a big honor! On the inside, recipients will find the word "peace" in the 6 languages of CSW students: English, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Russian.

Consider this a virtual card, sent to all of you, all over the globe, from the dorm parents at CSW: May the holiday season bring peace and joy to your heart and family!

Weston Winter Wonderland

We awoke yesterday to find the campus covered in a blanket of snow--for the first time this year. Maintenance was ready for it and had the walks cleared before our alarm clocks went off. Sadly, it was not deemed delay-worthy, and we all had to be up at our regularly scheduled time. Tomorrow weathermen are calling for 6-10 inches of snow, so we might get to start our winter break a day early!

Secret Snowflake Reveal & Holiday Party

Tonight was so much fun. We ended our week of secret snowflake surprises with a party where we all tried to guess who our secret snowflake was. One of the highlights was Juliana, who was the secret snowflake for Michael and I. The thing was, all week she delivered things to us saying they were from our snowflake. It was very sneaky...we didn't guess her at all! She even went to the trouble of getting other people to write the notes so we wouldn't recognize her handwriting. She even wrapped our presents right in front of us at our wrapping party last night! With OUR wrapping paper!! haha. Good one, Juliana.

Another highlight (if I do say so myself) was Cheyenne finding out that Michael and I were HER secret snowflake. Yesterday, I told Cheyenne her snowflake person had asked me to give her a present, and then I stayed while she opened it and acted all surprised and interested and said how cool it was. I think that was pretty funny of me in the end. We were actually the only people that hadn't been revealed, so it had to be us, but Cheyenne still didn't guess us. She said "Um....doesn't it have to be Melisa and Michael?" But she clearly didn't think it WAS us. I kept a totally straight face while the kids tried to figure out who else it could be. But Michael started laughing and gave it away. (You're no fun, Michael)

Oooh...and then there was Jane, who had Hyun Soo and made Hyun Soo buy her own present. Jane didn't have time to go out, and asked Hyun Soo to pick up a present that she herself liked that Jane could give to her secret snowflake person. hahahaha, very clever, Jane!

One last highlight was Jofia and Helen. Last year, Helen had Jofia and Jofia never guessed and Helen was so excited to have kept it a secret all week. This year, Jofia got Helen somehow and not only did Helen never guess, but even when Jofia fessed up, Helen wouldn't even believe her!!!

There were lots of laughs all night, and we opened the party to visitors after we finished our gift exchange. It was a great night, filled with comfort, joy, laughter, and all that is the spirit of the holiday season--whatever holiday we each celebrate. Here's to you and yours this season--enjoy!!

Cheers,
Melisa

PS: I'll post a slideshow of pictures tomorrow!

International Theater Company

Sorry it took so long to post these pictures. They are from last Thursday and Friday, from the International Theater Company Performances, which were really clever and funny! Hyeon Jin, Hyun Soo, Jane, and Julia were all on stage and we were so proud of them!

You Heard it Here First!

Our Girls JV team (which is mostly made up of Barnies, if we're honest) won 25-8 against Dana Hall today in an awesome game. Here are some pics:








and some video!

Happy Birthday x2!

Tonight there was singing and apples and FRENCH FRIES to celebrate Da Won and Minami's birthdays. And not just any fries, but sweet potato fries and rosemary fries. mmmm mmmmmm goodness.

Our Yearbook Photo! (take 2)

Funny thing about the yearbook photo...we made this big fuss and took forever to get arranged, and took several shots (including one with funny faces)...and the photographer left. And then...one of the girls came and asked when the photo was being taken. She had run to the restroom and missed it all!! Oops. (she was here a minute ago, we swear!) So...take two, a week later...and this will be the Barn photo in the yearbook this year. (Well, almost. I obviously photoshopped this one, colorizing it and adding the fun frame). Sadly, our dorm associate, Awa, couldn't be here. We might have to photoshop her in later. =)

*Photo credit goes to Aleph dorm parent, Matt. Thanks for sharing, Matt!